Tag: Global

LongeviQuest is pleased to announce the age validation of Isaac Nathan Edwards at age 110. He was an American supercentenarian known as the oldest living man at the time of his death.
Isaac Nathan Edwards was born on 6 December 1863 in Randolph County, Alabama, USA. While his mother was pregnant with him, his father was a part of the 31st Alabama Infantry Regiment that went into the Civil War but never returned.

At some point in the early 1880s, he married Sally Hurley and the two of them had seven children. Unfortunately, his wife died in 1898 at the age of 36 years old. Later on, he married once again, this time to Claudia Vesta Birdashaw with whom he had six more children. The family relocated to Oklahoma in 1907.

On his 100th birthday in 1963. (Source: Seminole Producer)
On his 100th birthday in 1963.
(Source: Seminole Producer)

He was active in the Missionary Baptist Church until he cannot attend anymore due to old age. When he was 100 years old, he had eight living children wherein he lived with a son and two daughters on a 90-acre farm near Maud. Since then, his health was in good condition although having poor eyesight, he had his hearing remained acute.

Upon his age validation, it was known that he became the world’s oldest living man on 5 May 1973 after 110-year-old Friedrich Wedeking passed away.

Isaac Nathan Edwards passed away on 18 October 1974 in Maud, Oklahoma, USA. At the time of death, he had approximately 216 grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.

For more information, please view Isaac Nathan Edwards’ Directory Profile here.

The LongeviQuest Global Validation Commission has unanimously voted to uphold the human longevity record set by Madame Jeanne Calment, who died in 1997 at the age of 122.

Mme. Calment’s age validation had been challenged by Dr. Nikolay Zak and Dr. Philip Gibbs, who submitted a 31-page devalidation report to the Global Validation Commission. The two researchers later publicly released a summary of their evidence.

Mme. Calment’s status as a supercentenarian was first recognized in the late 1980s, and her validation was retroactively recognized upon the founding of LongeviQuest. The LongeviQuest Charter requires unanimous approval to retroactively devalidate a case, a threshold that had been met only once previously. In the Calment case, the Commission unanimously voted in the other direction, confirming Mme. Calment’s status as the human longevity recordholder.

Source: Observatory of Demography
Jeanne Calment
Source: Observatory of Demography

The Global Validation Commission is composed of age validation experts from Asia, the Americas, and Europe. Expressing the collective view of the group, one Commissioner explained, “Having reviewed the devalidation report for Jeanne Calment, we found that on balance the report was conjectural and selective in the evidence it presented. As a result, the research presented is considered insufficient for devalidation.”

LongeviQuest Chief Executive Ben Meyers, who is not a member of the Global Validation Commission, stated the following: “We have built into our process a high threshold to retroactively devalidate a recognized age claim, and this decision is an example of the process functioning as intended. I am pleased that the Commissioners evaluated the research submitted by Dr. Zak and Dr. Gibbs without preconceived biases. The Commissioners’ thorough analysis has further confirmed LongeviQuest’s recognition of Madame Calment’s extraordinary age. We thank Dr. Zak and Dr. Gibbs for submitting their research to the Commission. Should their research be supplemented by additional evidence in the future, they are welcome to contact us again. Factoring in all currently available evidence, LongeviQuest considers this matter settled.”